"The mastermind behind the assassination was Park Chung-hee; let's start by excluding that"... Director Heo Jin-ho confronts the controversy over "The Assassin(s)" head-on [PD Notebook][★Night TView]

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

On "PD Notebook," Director Heo Jin-ho expressed his sense of grievance regarding the controversy surrounding the film "The Assassin."

In Episode 1527 of MBC's current affairs and documentary program "PD Notebook," broadcast on the night of the 27th, the segment titled "The Assassin: Who Crossed the Line?" was aired. The episode focused on the controversy over "The Assassin," which has spread beyond the film industry into political circles. "The Assassin" is a work that traces the suspicions and mastermind behind the assassination attempt on the First Lady, an incident that shocked South Korea on August 15, 1974.

On this day, Director Heo Jin-ho dismissed the allegations by stating, "We never set up the premise from the beginning that President Park Chung-hee was behind the assassin." He explained, "First of all, the very idea that President Park Chung-hee knew about the incident and 'tacitly approved it or planned it himself' did not fit well. I thought, 'If I were the president, could I have ordered such a thing? Against my own wife?' I didn't even want to imagine it. So, we started by excluding that part."

He said he had not anticipated at all that audiences who watched "The Assassin" would react by associating President Park Chung-hee with the mastermind behind the incident. Director Heo Jin-ho revealed his frustration, saying, "Before the release, we invited over 20,000 people for audience screenings. Even during those screenings, such comments never came up. Didn't we also hold press screenings? Although it is a sensitive subject, no such questions were raised. I am also curious about why things have turned out this way."

He also provided detailed information about the origins of "The Assassin." Director Heo Jin-ho recalled, "When Mrs. Yuk Young-soo passed away, I was in the fifth grade of elementary school. At that time, not only my parents but also my older sister and I were sad. The entire nation was immersed in grief, and I continued to remember that incident. Later, I watched a documentary released in 2005. It was MBC's "Now We Can Speak" and SBS's "It's Dangerous, We Know." After watching it, I realized that the gap between the actual investigation results announced in 1974 and what came out in 2005 was too large. I felt this was an attractive subject worth dealing with in a film."

He added, "I conceived the film based on the suspicions raised in the documentaries. The documentaries actually conducted interviews with many people, including the actual security guards at the time, the head of the forensic department, and even the head of the security division who had allowed Moon Se-gwang to enter."

Director Heo Jin-ho stated, "There were likely people who believed the investigation results announced in 1974 as facts. However, it seems that new facts were also revealed in 2005. Major media outlets and historians have raised questions about this part. I made a film based on those questions and dramatized them. Therefore, I cannot accept arguments like 'Why are you telling a new story instead of following the results from 1974?' or 'Why are you raising doubts about that?'"

Regrettable reactions also emerged from within the film industry. Director Lee Myung-se said, "I have been making films for 40 years, and when I saw protests in front of actors' homes, I thought, 'Huh? Isn't something wrong here?' Those aspects are truly shocking. It seems to drive away investors and make them feel discouraged. In fact, it is a truly worrying reality that prohibits imagination for creators and puts shackles on their creativity."

Director Moon Hyeon-seong also said, "I was reminded of the 'banned songs' I heard in class at school when I was young. (Like the controversy over "The Assassin"), it felt as if someone had designated these as 'banned songs.' If this reality does not end as a one-time event and similar situations continue, we might return to that time (when banned songs were designated). Perhaps even to a point of having 'banned films' or 'banned works.'"

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.View Original